Web Literacy - Advanced Searching

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Teaching Zack to Think: Developing Critical Thinking Skills
Developed from Alan November's Book "Web Literacy"

Too many students are not sure how to separate fact from fiction on the Internet. The Internet can provide any version of the truth to support almost any belief. We can teach students how to read the “grammar” of the Internet and to apply strategies to validate information on a website. This popular session provides step-by-step teaching tips that help students and teachers think critically about Internet information and improve their online search strategies.

Search

Activity - Basic Google Search vs. Advanced Search Groups assigned to research topics using basic search and then advanced search. 100 tips

Effective Search Practices

*Activity: Use advanced search techniques to find the following:
-Ozone depletion in Australia from a government website (Not sure, try this.)
-A presentation file that is related to your subject matter and from universities in the U.S. (Not sure, try this.)
-A black and white image that's labeled for reuse to download on to your computer. (Not sure, go here.)

See also www.morguefile.com for creative commons images. Thanks from Leigh Ann Jones.
Find another class doing the same novel study from another country, get your kids to see what that class is doing, engage with that class in a debate. e.g. Wuthering heights
Conduct a search site:sch.uk "Wuthering Heights" or site:ac.za "Wuthering Heights" to Compare the impact of Wuthering Heights in different cultures.

Validating Resources - Get REAL: 4 Steps to Validating Information

*Activity: Use the REAL Steps to validate these websites.

Website Validation (REAL)


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Read the URL:
  • What is the base URL (domain and extension)?
  • Country Codes - http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov
  • Is the site sponsored/hosted by a trusted organization?
  • Is it a personal page?*
  • Is it published using a free web hosting service?*
 Examine the content:
  • Does the site appear useful for your purpose?
  • Does the information appear accurate and complete?
  • How does it compare to other resources on the same topic?
  • Are sources cited? Can you verify key information?
  • What is the purpose of the site (inform, persuade, entertain?)
  • When was the site last updated?*
  • How has the site changed over time?
    Wayback Machine - http://archive.com
  • Are there ads on the page? Does that affect the credibility?
Ask about the author
  • Who wrote the site? Do they provide credentials?
  • Look for "About." Google the author/owner.
  • Is there a way to contact the author?
  • Who owns the site? Easy Whois -http://www.easywhois.com/
 Look at the links:
  • What does the page or site link to (credible/trusted sources)?
  • What links to this site?
    Use the Link: command (Yahoo, AltaVista, Google);http://www.backlinkwatch.com
*The implications/importance of these criteria will vary depending on the topic and purpose.

REAL Video Series (Brian Mull) - http://vimeo.com/8579858

Sites to Examine


Dig in to Google

  • Google Search Features - http://www.google.com/help/features.html ; Basics Help | Advanced Help
  • Advanced Search
    • Narrow your Search: Phrase | Boolean (AND/OR/NOT) | Domain/Extension | Filetype | Date
      (EXAMPLE site: American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov / Harlem Renaissance)
      (EXAMPLE phrase "to be or not to be" shakespeare
      (EXAMPLE filetype: "very hungry caterpillar" filetype:pdf cut out)
      (EXAMPLE boolean hamster AND/OR gerbil "class pet")
      (EXAMPLE domain .gov .uk .
      (EXAMPLE stemming
      (EXAMPLE related terms

    • Advanced Operator Cheat Sheet - http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html
    • U. S. Top-level Domains: .com, ,org, .net, .edu, .gov, .mil)
    • URL Country Codes - http://goes.gsfc.nasa.gov


  • ACTIVITY: Do a search for your favorite (or curricular) topic and see how far you can improve the results using the techniques above.
  • SEARCH TIP: Include the "thing you are looking for" with your search terms, e.g. "lesson plan, " "timeline" or "podcast."
  • Google Search Options Panel: News | Books | Videos | Related Searches | Timeline | Wonderwheel
  • Reframing Google Search Options Joyce Valenza http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/29666
  • Directory - http://www.google.com/intl/en/dirhelp.html
    Use Google search technology to search the human-edited Open Directory

Search Smarter


What About Wikipedia?



  • Why does it rate so high in Google searches?
    • PageRank - inbound links (other sites link to it; it links to itself), quality of search terms, clicks (users go there)





Web Literacy & Critical Thinking Resources


1. Read the URL;
What the page links to (outgoing links)

2. Examining page content, Ads on the page

3. Author (search name on Google)
http://easywhois.com
Wayback Machine at http://archive.com

3. Links In
(link: command; it's better to use Yahoo than Google for this https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com )

Credibility Challenge -
http://factchecked.org/2010/lesson-plans/the-credibility-challenge/
Rheingold Crap Detection 101 -
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/rheingold/detail?blogid=108&entry_id=42805
Critical Thinking: What is it anyway - http://stayoutofschool.com/2010/06/critical-thinking-what-is-it-anyway/
http://factchecked.org/

Real or Hoax?

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus - http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
Museum of Hoaxes - http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/C49/
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/webeval/eval12.htm
Internet Detective - http://www.vts.intute.ac.uk/detective/ (this is good for HS and adults)
My strategy for teaching Web Evaluation http://www.jakesonline.org/filter.htm


Wikipedia
Why does it rate so high in Google searches?
- TrustRank
- Links (internal and external)
- PageRank (click rates)

How reliable is it?
The value of the [Talk] page.
Crowdsourced info
President Barack Obama has said that “we import more oil today than ever before” – but do we? How can you find out? http://factchecked.org/
check Wikipedia lesson - Stephen Colber t; "good enough"


Advanced Searching

Activity - Basic Google Search vs. Advanced Search Groups assigned to research topics using basic search and then advanced search. 100 tips

Effective Search Practices

*Activity: Use advanced search techniques to find the following:
-Ozone depletion in Australia from a government website (Not sure, try this.)
-A presentation file that is related to your subject matter and from universities in the U.S. (Not sure, try this.)
-A black and white image that's labeled for reuse to download on to your computer. (Not sure, go here.)

See also www.morguefile.com for creative commons images. Thanks from Leigh Ann Jones.
Find another class doing the same novel study from another country, get your kids to see what that class is doing, engage with that class in a debate. e.g. Wuthering heights
Conduct a search site:sch.uk "Wuthering Heights" or site:ac.za "Wuthering Heights" to Compare the impact of Wuthering Heights in different cultures.

Validating Resources - Get REAL: 4 Steps to Validating Information

*Activity: Use the REAL Steps to validate these websites.

November Learning - Information Literacy Resources


Tips: Get around blocked sites. If you are having problems getting around a blocked site, just type “cache:website address” with website address being the address of the blocked site to use Google’s cached copy to get where you are going.

- * is the "wild card". For example, if you are using advanced search and you want to search k12 schools across the US, use k12.*.us in the Search within a site or domain: field.